Hopefully your parents told you whether they wanted to be buried, cremated, donated to science, etc. Hospitals and hospice facilities should be able to provide a list of trusted local funeral homes and crematoriums. If your parents died at home, you can turn to friends and relatives for recommendations, or search online.

The funeral industry can be predatory—make sure the business you choose to work with has good reviews. The most expensive funeral home is not necessarily the best—be sure to determine exactly what’s included in the cost of the package. Have your credit card at the ready—hopefully your parents had a life insurance policy that can help you cover the costs.

Here are some things to consider:

• If you’re burying your parents, you’ll need to plan a funeral sooner rather than later (assuming your parents wanted one). Know your consumer rights under the FTC’s Funeral Rule! The Funeral Consumers Alliance also has helpful resources, as does The Order of the Good Death.

• All states allow you to have the funeral in your own home if you prefer—though some require you to work with a funeral director. (Sometimes you can even bury loved ones on your property!) Visit the National Home Funeral Alliance for more information.

• If you’re cremating your parents, you don’t have to hold a memorial service right away. My parents were both cremated—we waited a year for my mom’s memorial due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we didn’t hold a memorial for my dad until the summer after he died, just to give ourselves more time.

• You don’t have to use an urn from the crematorium itself—you can choose any box or vase you want, even if it’s from a thrift store. (I wrote more about this here.)

• Do you think your parents might have wanted their bodies donated to science? Search online for “donate body to science” or “anatomical donation program” + your area. Many universities have such programs—though it’s possible your parent’s bodies won’t meet their criteria for one reason or another, in which case you’ll have to find another option.

• A quick overview of some alternative disposition methods (a.k.a. other ways to get rid of a body) that may be available in your state: green/natural burial (body goes in the ground, the end); aquamation (cremation but with water); natural organic reduction (human composting). All much better for the environment than traditional methods—but often more expensive as well.

• Do you need an autopsy for your dead parent? Likely not—they’re fairly uncommon these days. However, there are some circumstances where they may be helpful: to confirm or discover a diagnosis that may genetically affect you and other family members, or if the death was unusual or unexpected enough that the cause needs to be confirmed for a life insurance payout. Autopsies are expensive and usually need to be completed within 24 hours of death. Here are some resources from Verywell Health and PBS Frontline.

• The hospital may ask whether you want to donate your parents’ corneas or other organs. Check their drivers licenses to see whether they were organ donors. If you do decide to donate, you’ll have to answer lots of probing questions about your parents and their health, which can be difficult immediately after death.

• Once you’ve chosen a funeral home or crematorium, you can spend as much time as you want with the body, barring any unusual circumstances. Legally you can spend up to 24 hours without refrigerating the body. On the other hand, you don’t have to wait around unless you want to. If your parents die at home, they’ll come directly to your home to pick them up. And don’t be afraid to call them to ask questions over the next days and weeks. (Cremation can sometimes take weeks!)

• In the event of a violent death, or one that isn’t discovered for some time, you may need to hire professionals to clean and sanitize the space. It may seem gruesome, but it will be worth your while to search online for “biohazard body cleanup” in your area.

• Certain airlines offer bereavement fares for you or loved ones to travel quickly in the event of a death, but the practice has become less common. Search the name of the airline + “bereavement fares” online to see if they’re available.

• Need to ship your parents somewhere after they’ve been cremated? The USPS is the only legal way to do it. They give you a box that says CREMATED REMAINS in giant letters. Can’t miss it.

• Parents die in another state and you need to get them home? This article from Crossroads Hospice covers the basics. Pick a funeral home at your final destination (pun intended); they’ll work with a funeral home where your parents died and arrange for transportation. You need to get a permit to transport the body. Yes, transporting the body costs money, whether by road or air. Yes, you can drive the body yourself, but you still need a permit. Every state has slightly different regulations for all this.

• Parents die in another country and you need to get them home? Worst vacation ever. USAGov has an information page for this scenario. Contact the U.S. embassy or consulate in that country so they can help you navigate local laws. Then you’ll have to hire a funeral shipping company to fly the body back. It’s not cheap.

• You can indeed bring your cremated parents on an airplane—no frequent flyer miles needed. Check out the TSA guidelines.